Disruptors of the year:Four stories of companies that change traditional models.

Manuel G. Martínez Gaxiola of EFM Capital has been recognized as a disruptor of the year due to his great vision consolidating Unities Alliance Group, with a new model, as an important reference in the technological and industrial sectors.

“Disruption”, the word that we can’t stop repeating, has become the only guarantee of success, in capital letters, and the “data”, in its most valuable asset. Nowadays, competition grows in traditional markets and breaking with certain models, allows opening new business opportunities that benefit consumers at the end of the day.

The last edition of the year in Expansión magazine offers four stories with the disruptors of different companies that come in strong and shaking certain bases: Konfío,Vendetuauto.com, EFM Capital and SíRenta.

Workshop:“Building the Future: Addressing the opportunities and challenges of an AI-enabled world”

Last week, Dr. Félix Cárdenas, partner and director of Innovation at EFM Capital, participated in a workshop held by the Aspen Institute on artificial intelligence (AI).

The purpose of the table was to discuss the perspectives of the technological impact on society, as well as to find an answer to the following questions: How can we manage societal disruptions to the world of work? and How do we deliver ethical AI in society, and leverage AI to address societal challenges?

The Aspen Institute Mexico is an association that develops activities related to education, leadership and public policies, integrating recognized academics, entrepreneurs and leaders. Its activities include seminars, as well as scientific and cultural dissemination activities.

The Firm Agility Business Encounter in Mexico.

Driven by the challenges that many directors of boards of directors, executive directors and teams of directors face today, on October 2 and October 3, the University of Monterrey (UDEM) held the meeting of business agility companies, where only board directors and executive directors, but also; Owners, advisers, presidents, among others from the main companies in Mexico met, shared and discussed their experiences in business agility through digital transformation. In order to find new and better ways to adapt to the changes in technology we see in our daily lives, how they affect business and how to use them to take advantage.

Dr. Tom Davenport, who is one of the three main business and technology analysts in the world, and got his degree in Harvard University and now teaches in Harvard, MIT, Boston University and many more, talked about digital transformation, and the best way to adapt to it. He is also one of the 50 most important teachers from Business Schools, according to Fortune Magazine.

On the other hand; Christopher Worley, who is an international counselor for different companies, and a member of the Academy of Management, NTL, OD Network, and the Strategic Management Society, in his lecture “Designing an Agile Organization”, he talked about business agility, and how to adapt to the fast changes in technology.

Worley then gave a Workshop about agility in work organization to Human Resources, strategy, and Information and Technology directors. Where he went through the strengths and the weak points of traditional organization, he then explored the continuous learning concepts and organizational agility interactively to develop an organizational capacity to manage a smooth transition.

The two main lectures held by Dr. Davenport and Worley were no the only ones, Fernando González Olivieri, CEO from CEMEX; Máximo Vedoya Raimondi, CEO from Tenrium; Mario Páez González, CEO from Sigma Foodworks, and Carlos Arenas Cadena, CEO from OXXO, to name a few, also talked about how their businesses adapted to digital transformation and business agility.

BIVA:
The new Stock Exchange in Mexico

The new Institutional Securities Exchange (Biva) in Monterrey seeks potential issuers that require capital to grow more dynamically.

Santiago Urquiza Luna Parra, president of Cencor (Central de Corretajes), company that operates the new stock market, said that the entity has a wide range of opportunities, since it is characterized by its vocation to do business.

"Monterrey is very attractive to us. Many companies are born here, there is a great vocation to generate business and to grow them and one of the main ways of doing business is to grow them with capital. Capital finances innovation, "he said.

He added that to start stock exchange operations in a year in which Mexico will have an electoral process, where although there is uncertainty in the markets, it is a project with a view to the long term.

"Five years ago we started the project and we are going to start on July 23 (...) we are calm; it is not an issue in which we say that we are going to delay it a few months or advance it, of course it is a period of volatility and uncertainty, but a long-term project like this one, has to have long-term goals, that the electoral conjuncture that we all care about it, and that with what happens in the country we can all, not only the stock exchange, but the whole economy, continue to grow more and generate more employment. They are long-term projects that transcend any situation, "said the president of Cencor.

Roll-Up Mergers: What they are and how they create value

A roll-up merger occurs when investors acquire small companies with high potential to create synergies between them, because when forming a larger company will be better positioned.

By Felix Cárdenas *

Small and medium-sized companies struggle to stay competitive. Owners of these companies are constantly looking for ways to stabilize their business in an increasingly competitive market. In order to survive, small and medium-sized companies can merge with other similar companies where together they can be strengthened. A roll-up merger or cumulative fusion is when small and medium companies merge to create a larger one.

A roll-up merger occurs when investors acquire small companies with high potential to create synergies between them, because when forming a larger company it will be better positioned. It is common that the investors who make roll-ups are specialized private equity firms, that seek to create value and once merged sell it to an institutional buyer or list it on the stock market. Private equity firms provide a high caliber of managers in operational, commercial, and financial areas that by themselves small businesses could not access. The ownership of the companies is merged into a single larger company, and the original owners of the small and medium enterprises receive shares of the new company in exchange for their business. By Felix Cárdenas *

Small and medium-sized companies struggle to stay competitive. Owners of these companies are constantly looking for ways to stabilize their business in an increasingly competitive market. In order to survive, small and medium-sized companies can merge with other similar companies where together they can be strengthened. A roll-up merger or cumulative fusion is when small and medium companies merge to create a larger one.

A roll-up merger occurs when investors acquire small companies with high potential to create synergies between them, because when forming a larger company it will be better positioned. It is common that the investors who make roll-ups are specialized private equity firms, that seek to create value and once merged sell it to an institutional buyer or list it on the stock market. Private equity firms provide a high caliber of managers in operational, commercial, and financial areas that by themselves small businesses could not access. The ownership of the companies is merged into a single larger company, and the original owners of the small and medium enterprises receive shares of the new company in exchange for their business.

Lorenzo Fernández Alonso

Lorenzo Fernández is a member of the Board of Directors, Management Committee and Director of IPADE at Monterrey. He has extensive management experience in valuation, financial analysis and implementation of concepts for the creation of value, association and sales of family businesses.

Mr. Fernández holds a postgraduate Master’s degree in Business Management from IPADE. He studied Industrial Engineering at the Universidad Panamericana and a graduate course on The United States Mergers and Acquisitions taught by the New York Institute of Finance. Mr. Fernandez has taught finance in business schools in countries such as Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala, Peru and Mexico.

Rafael Brambila López

Rafael Brambila specializes in M&A processes for both Mexican and foreign companies. He has vast knowledge working in Due Diligence processes and legal restructuring of companies.

Mr. Brambila holds a Masters of Advanced Studies in International and European Business Law from the University of Leiden, where he also obtained certifications in Mergers and Acquisitions, as well as in International Capital Markets, Banking, and Financial Products. He specialized in Financial Law at Universidad Panamericana and holds a degree in Law from UNLA. He is certified in Real Estate Law from ITAM, International Corporate Law from Universidad Iberoamericana and as a Latin American Private Equity Professional by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Oscar J. Morales Rodríguez

Oscar Morales specializes in private banking with more than 20 years of experience at Sr. Management level in international operations. He has vast knowledge and experience in the administration, compliance and design of investment structures for Family Offices and private equity investors.

Mr. Morales holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from EGADE and a degree in Business Administration from ITESM. He attended the High Management Executive programs of Private Capital and AD2 taught at IPADE. He is certified in Investment Strategies by the Asociasión Mexicana de Intermediarios Bursátiles.

Juan Manuel Piña Hernández

Has vast experience in the gastronomic field. For more than eight years he has worked in hotels and Mexican haute cuisine and international restaurants.

Sous Chef Piña’s specialty is Mexican haute cuisine.

Ricardo Torres Herrera

Has more than 25 years of experience in the gastronomic field, where he has worked for exclusive restaurants, as well as Gran Tourism hotels and catering. He specializes in pre-Hispanic Mexican cuisine and is a disciple of the Research Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita.

Executive Chef Torres has a degree in Culinary Arts from the Ambrosia Centro Culinario in Mexico City. He is also a Sommelier certified by the Escuela Española Sommeliers, a Barista certified by SCAE, Coffee Roaster, Restaurant Advisor and professor in several gastronomic institutes.

Dora E. Gómez Tijerina

Performs general administration functions. She has vast experience in administrative processes and bilingual customer service.

Ms. Gómez carried out Public Accounting and Administrative Assistant studies at the American Institute of Monterrey.

Manuel G. Martínez Gaxiola

Manuel Martínez has extensive experience in the turnaround of family businesses and in the execution of mergers and acquisitions. He is a founding Partner of EFM Capital and serves as Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Martínez has an MBA from ITESM and a BA in Business from the same institution. He attended the EGADE Top Management Program AD-2, as well as the Private Equity and Innovation programs, offered by IPADE Business School.

Ricardo Díaz Salinas

Ricardo Díaz has more than 20 years of experience in planning, starting up, consolidating and expanding business in various countries, for companies of many industries and sizes. His practice includes the analysis, development and implementation of improvements in profitability, administration, commercial strategy, sales, operation, logistics, technology, due diligence and M&A.

He is a graduate of the Faculty of Physical Mathematical Sciences of the UANL. He attended the International Management Program at Stanford, Wharton, Carnegie Mellon and Thunderbird. Cited by ComputerWorld magazine three times, lecturer for the IEEE, adviser of programs of entrepreneurs, fund of innovation and the national network of innovators.

Carlos J. Martínez de León

Carlos Martínez has extensive experience in the development of family businesses, designing strategic alliances, and implementing methodologies to align organizations towards meeting their objectives.

Mr. Martínez holds an MBA from the University of Texas and a B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from ITESM. He attended the High Management Executive programs of Private Capital and Innovation at IPADE, and Latin American Private Equity at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Family Wealth Management from Columbia University.